1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device and method of improving the shooting accuracy of a basketball player.
2. Description of Prior Art
There have been many attempts to provide various gadgets or fixtures to help basketball players improve the accuracy of their shooting. Many of these practice devices involve modifications to the basketball rim itself that are ineffective because they distort the image of the basketball rim or backboard. Thus, a basketball player attempting to shoot at a regulation basketball rim sees something entirely different than the practice device.
It should be noted that the regulation basketball rim or hoop has a diameter of 18 inches. A regulation size basketball has a spherical diameter of 9 inches. Using these dimensions it can be seen that two balls could pass through the rim at the same time if the trajectory of the balls were exactly vertical. There is no margin for error in this example. However, if only one ball was passing through the hoop in a strictly vertical decent, the margin of error for the shooter is increased 100%.
In practice, to be a good shooter with high accuracy, a basketball must be lofted at a trajectory which, as the ball approaches the rim from above, is at an angle of at least 45% to the plane defined by the basketball rim, when shooting directly at the basket and not banking a shot off of the backboard. Below about 45% the effective area that the basketball can pass through the rim is lowered. For example, a ball approaching the rim from above at an angle in the range of 5% to 10% has little chance to go through the hoop. As the angle increases, the effective area which the basketball “sees” increases and the more likely the ball will go through the hoop. Above 45% the effective area increases but the basketball must have a much higher trajectory and the ball has to travel farther, thereby reducing accuracy.
A very effective approach to help a player increase his accuracy is to substitute hoops with smaller than regulation diameters. To shoot the ball through a rim with a reduced diameter in effect forces a player to shoot the ball at an optimum trajectory angle discussed above. If the hoops are identical except for their diameters, from a players standpoint, it looks like they are shooting at a regulation diameter rim.
By using a smaller practice rim (14″-16″), the shooter's margin of error will be decreased and will require the player to have an increased level of concentration and focus to make the shot. The practice results will increase the shooter's margin of error and subsequently improve their muscle memory, confidence and shooting percentage because they are replicating the higher arc on the larger regulation rim (18″).
To be practical rims of different diameters must be easily interchangeable. For example, if each rim with a different diameter must be bolted separately to the back board and then unbolted and replaced with a rim of another diameter, this takes a lot of time and labor and is not an effective approach. In other words, the time consuming process of installing and transferring the differing sizes of rims to the backboard becomes a factor in use time spent making the change.
In one prior art approach, the plate to which the rim is secured is simply inserted into a pocket mounted on the backboard. This approach has several disadvantages. First, the hoop is not firmly secured and will tend to rattle and vibrate when a basketball strikes the rim. Second, with time and with basketballs continuously striking the hoop, the rim can move vertically and laterally tending to wear out the pocket, causing rattling and causing the rim to move from its regulation 10 foot height.